Karnataka bypolls: BJP releases lists of 14 candidates

The BJP on Thursday released two lists of candidates for the upcoming Karnataka bypolls scheduled on Dec. 5, with all the names on the first list being that of rebel MLAs from the Congress-JD(S) camp.

The candidate list includes the names of BC Patil, Mahesh Kumatalli, Srimanthagouda Patil, Ramesh Jarakiholi, Shivaram Hebbar, Anand Singh, K Sudhakar, Bhairathi Basavaraj, ST Somashekar, K Gopaliah, MTB Nagaraj, KC Narayanagowda and H Vishwanath.

The second list has just one name, M Sharavana, who will contest from the Shivajinagar Assembly constituency.

The rebel MLAs were disqualified earlier this year during the Congress-JD(S) coalition government by the then-Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar. On Wednesday, they were given relief by the Supreme Court to contest bypolls. The apex court also upheld their disqualification.

Karnataka will go to bypolls on Dec. 5 for the seats that were vacated when the rebel Congress-JD(S) MLAs were disqualified. Their disqualification caused the collapse of the HD Kumaraswamy administraion and paved the way for BS Yediyurappa's return to the CM's seat.